It's 6 a.m. and I'm wide awake so writing again. This time I wrote in Word first, as there is an annoying box in Chinese that keeps popping up and I have to keep xxxing it out!! Finally it disappears. So this may work until I find an internet cafe which may be different. Also have had no luck with photos yet but will also work on that.
We took TONS yesterday on that backstreet tour - we all agreed that was a highlight! I got very frustrated the first night we were here because I had sent a $50 deposit for the tour (which was highly praised on TripAdvisor) but when I had the desk clerk call the phone number I had TWICE the woman who answered didn't know what he was talking about. I was getting upset thinking this was my FIRST rip-off of the trip!! Turns out I had written a 6 instead of 8 in the number, when I looked it up on the internet, and he called the right number, Janny (our tour guide) was there and told us where to meet.
We had to go to People's Square nearby and figure out the subway system - 3 yuan each - we had to scramble for coins and use a machine - no person to sell tickets. But we watched others and figured it out. When we got to Train 8 we couldn't figure out which direction to go (they only post the FIRST next stop and we were going 3 stops), but a young man overheard us and stepped in to help and went with us on the right train and told us when to get off. This was what I most remember about traveling around China by myself 5 years ago - people watched me (probably because I stuck out like a sore thumb! and now there are 4 of us!) and approached me to help. I know they want to practice their English but still.... very nice! It happened again on the bus ride yesterday when we just hopped on going the right direction, we hoped, but didn't know where to get off to get to the Bund. This man sitting in front of me spoke up, said he'd tell us when to get off and pointed us in the right direction. Great!!
No comments:
Post a Comment